Ryan's Cat
by millstone1005
Summary: [Complete] Ryan finds a kindred soul. Epilogue added!
1. The Arrival

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

* * *

** Chapter 1 - Prologue **

_Ryan reported:_

It just showed up one day. I guess I didn't shut the door of the pool house completely when I left to go to school, because when I got home, the door was open a little. Through the door, I could see a sandy-colored cat curled up on my bed. Obviously a stray, probably looking for a place to sleep, food, a home. It was skinny, and a little dirty. I didn't see any collar or tag.

It reminded me a lot of the alley cats I used to try to make friends with when I was little. The really wild ones, you couldn't get anywhere near. The strays, the ones that had a home with people once -- those you could. Since this one had walked right in, it must have been someone's pet. It was probably thrown out or left behind, maybe when it got too old to be a cute little kitten any more, or when it clawed the furniture one too many times. I could relate.

I didn't want to scare it away. I tried to open the door slowly and walk in quietly. But it heard me, or sensed me somehow. It stood up, slowly, watching me every second. I think it was afraid of me, but it didn't run off, which I took to be a good sign.

I slowly lowered my bookbag to the floor. I held out my hand, and slowly walked towards the bed. Looks like this cat has been on its own for a while. And been in a lot of catfights. I could see a large nick in one ear, and an area below the other ear where the fur didn't grow any more.

As I got closer and closer, the cat crouched down, but at least it didn't bolt. I stopped with my hand a few inches away from its head. I wanted to let the cat make the first move, if it wanted to. After a few seconds of eyeing me, the cat stood up and stretched its head forward. It sniffed at my fingers a bit then rubbed the side of its head against them.

I think I have a friend.


	2. The Name

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

* * *

** Chapter 2 **

Ryan was sitting up on his bed, working on his homework. The cat was curled up next to him. Every once in a while, he would look over at her and reach out to pet her. She loved being scratched under the chin and around the ears.

Ryan had decided that she was a she, even though he didn't really know for sure. He tried to check, you know, in the back, and he didn't find any, um, masculine equipment. Of course, that could be the result of a trip to the vet, but Ryan preferred to think of her as a she.

Ryan had already fed her with some tuna he'd found in the kitchen, using a plastic bowl he'd found in the back of a cabinet that he'd never seen used. She loved the tuna and gobbled it down like she hadn't had a good meal in days. Ryan knew he'd have to go out and get real cat food, bowls, and other stuff. But he'd need to use the car for that - he couldn't carry everything home on his bike. So it would have to wait until Kirsten or Sandy got home from work.

Ryan had pulled down all the shades and locked all the doors to the pool house. He didn't want people barging in, like they always do, without waiting for an answer to their knock, if they knocked at all. And he didn't want the cat to be startled into running out. He was afraid he'd never see her again if that happened.

* * *

Seth got home after his lit. mag. meeting finished. He headed out to the pool house to talk to Ryan, as he usually did after school. He was surprised to see all the shades down in the middle of the afternoon. Well, at least, he didn't expect it to be that way now -- now that Ryan and Marissa weren't together any more.

Seth went over and knocked on the door and waited for Ryan to answer. Usually he'd just barge in, but maybe Ryan had a new girl. Like maybe Catrina Ross, whom he'd seen eyeing Ryan recently.

Ryan responded to the knock, "Seth?"

"Yeah, can I come in?"

"No, I'll be right out."

Seth saw through the shades the blurry figure of Ryan walking over to the door from the bed. He heard Ryan unlock the door. The fact that Ryan had locked the doors convinced him that Ryan had a girl in there. He knew Ryan didn't want a repeat of what happened with his mom walking in on him and Marissa. Ryan opened the door halfway and quickly slipped out and shut the door behind him. Seth tried to get a look inside to see who was in there, but couldn't see anyone.

"Hey, man, what's going on? You got a girl in there? What's her name? Anyone I know?"

Ryan smiled and decided to mess around with Seth a little. "Yeah, you could say there's a female inside the pool house."

"Way to go, man! Who is it? What's her name?"

"Um, I call her Cat."

"Really? You mean Catrina Ross? She's hot! I thought I saw you guys eyeing each other at lunch the other day!"

"Actually, no, not Catrina. A different Cat. You don't know her."

"Yeah? So what are you guys doing in there?" Seth smiled and waggled his eyebrows.

Ryan sighed. "Nothing. Just sitting on the bed."

"Then why do you have the shades down?"

"She's shy."

"Uh-huh. So what _are_ you doing? Talking?"

"Um, Cat doesn't really, you know, talk." Ryan was barely able to suppress a smile.

"Well, then, you guys should get along great." Seth was grinning ear to ear, and Ryan gave him a look like 'give it a rest'.

That was a joke, of course, about Cat not talking, but now that Ryan thought about it, she hadn't meowed yet -- not even when he brought her the food. Ryan remembered hearing that cats who lived away from people learned not to meow, because it would bring unwanted attention from predators or competitors. He wondered if Cat would meow at all.

Seth grabbed the door handle. "Come on, man, I gotta meet her..."

Ryan grabbed Seth's hand and said quickly, "OK, Seth, I've just been messing with you. I don't have a girl in there. It's a cat, a real cat."

Seth looked at Ryan, like he didn't know quite whether to believe him. "OK... Well, where'd you get a cat?"

"She was just here, today, when I came home. Come in, you can see her. But she _is_ shy, so be careful."

Ryan opened the door slowly, and walked in first. Seth followed, and saw that indeed Ryan was not kidding, there was a real cat lying on his bed. Ryan closed the door behind them and walked over to the bed. He sat down and started petting Cat. She picked her head up, saw Seth standing there, and quickly got to her feet, scared. Ryan immediately started talking to her softly and petting her, and she calmed down.

Seth saw a tan-colored, scrawny, beat up, scarred old street cat, and wondered what Ryan saw in her. Although the cat did kind of remind Seth of Ryan, in a way. Seth said, quietly, trying not to scare the cat any further, "So, are you going to keep her?"

"I'd like to. Do you think that would be OK with your parents?"

"I think so, as long as she lives out here in the pool house. I'm not sure they'd like her in the house. But, you know, you'd better ask them."

Ryan nodded. Seth asked, "Does she have a name?"

"I told you -- Cat."

"You're naming your cat _Cat_?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, _Man_." Seth said with a big smile. Ryan caught the emphasis, and gave Seth a half-smile back.

Seth turned towards the door. "Well, I'll leave you two alone..."

* * *

Ryan locked the door behind Seth and turned and walked back to the bed. Now that Seth was gone, Cat settled herself back down and started to give herself a cat-bath. Ryan layed down on the bed on his side, facing Cat. He watched with fascination as she washed her face, using her front paws, first one side then the other. Then she proceeded to get herself into all different contortions in order to reach all parts of her body with her tongue: her back, her stomach, her back paws. Ryan had never seen this in person before.

He got a little bored when she seemed to get stuck on one spot, washing it over and over again. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. He always noticed the strange looks he got when people saw him staring at the ceiling. They didn't understand what he was doing. He was thinking. He was figuring stuff out. He liked to stare at the ceiling for this because it was smooth, and white, and unbroken by anything. It calmed his mind down.

But now, with Cat, he could justify just laying there "doing nothing," staring at the ceiling. He was spending quality time with his cat. Yeah, that was his story, and he was sticking with it. But right now, he knew he should really sit up and finish his homework, so he'd have time before dinner to go out and go "cat shopping".

Cat finished her cat-bath and stood up, stretching first her front paws, then her back paws, then her back. Ryan thought she'd jump down off the bed and go get some more water or something. But she surprised him by turning towards him. She tentatively put first one paw then the other on his stomach. She climbed up on him, and settled herself down, with her back end on his stomach and her front end on his chest, her face just inches from his. She pulled her tail in to lay along her body, and tucked her front paws under.

Ryan reached up with his left hand and started stroking her back, in long, slow strokes. She blinked her eyes shut. Ryan could feel the warmth radiating from her body into his chest and stomach. Well, he couldn't sit up and go back to doing his homework now, he'd disturb Cat. He took a deep breath and looked back up at the ceiling, lost in thought.

And then Cat started to purr...


	3. The Home

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. Much appreciated!

* * *

** Chapter 3 **

Kirsten came home from work a little early. She went looking for who was home and found Seth playing video games. He looked up when she walked in from the kitchen. "Hey."

"Hey. Are you hungry? I thought I'd order from La Rocca's."

Seth nodded. "Yeah, sounds good. Hey, listen, Ryan's got someone in the pool house you should see. He's got the doors locked, so..."

Kirsten was intrigued. "Yeah? Who is it? A new girl?"

Seth smiled. "You'll see."

Kirsten was even more intrigued. She headed out to the pool house. She saw that all the shades were pulled down, too. She hoped that Ryan hadn't gotten back together with Marissa. Marissa was a nice enough girl, she supposed, but she was unstable, and Ryan spent an awful lot of his time and energy "rescuing" her from all the fixes she got herself -- and Ryan -- into. Kirsten hoped that if Ryan had a girl in the pool house, that it was someone new, someone who was stable and could support Ryan instead of pulling him down.

Kirsten knocked on the pool house door and called out, "Ryan?"

Ryan called back, "Just a second. The door's locked."

Ryan glanced over at the clock and was surprised to see that half an hour had gone by while he was laying there with Cat laying on top of him. She had hardly moved in all that time. She was still laying from his stomach to his chest, with her paws tucked under and her eyes closed. She had stopped purring some time back, and looked like she was pretty much out of it, completely relaxed. Ryan still had his hand resting on her back, from when he had been stroking her back earlier.

Well, now he had no choice but to disturb Cat. And he was going to have to stay up late tonight to finish his homework. He gently put both hands under Cat's stomach behind her front legs and lifted her up and off to his right side, setting her down on her feet on the bed. She looked a little confused by being woken up so suddenly. Ryan started scratching her around the ears, the way she liked it. Cat sat down, and really got into it.

When it looked to Ryan like Cat wasn't going anywhere, he got up and walked over to the door.

Kirsten stepped back a little when Ryan unlocked the door. She wasn't very surprised when he came out and shut the door behind him, instead of inviting her in. She said, "Seth said you had someone in the pool house."

Ryan glanced over to the kitchen and saw Seth standing there just inside the doorway, looking smug. Ryan guessed that Seth didn't tell Kirsten the nature of the someone who was in the pool house.

"Um, yeah, um, it's a cat."

"A cat?"

"Yeah, she was here when I came home today. Come on in, but she's a little shy, so..." Ryan opened the door, let Kirsten go in first, then closed the door behind them, like he did with Seth.

Kirsten saw a stray cat crouching on the bed, looking like she was about to run off. She watched Ryan walk over to the cat, sit down on the bed next to her, and start petting her with long, soothing strokes down her back. The cat seemed to relax a little.

Ryan expected Kirsten to do what Seth did and stay by the door, but instead she did something similar to what Ryan had done earlier. She walked slowly towards the bed. Cat kept an eye on her, but didn't run. When Kirsten got close enough, she sat down on the bed next to Ryan and reached out to Cat carefully. When Cat didn't move away, Kirsten reached a little further and stroked Cat on the top of the head. Cat looked like she liked it.

Kirsten said, "Did you know I had a cat when I was little?"

Ryan was surprised -- he hadn't thought of any of the Cohens with pets, since they didn't have any now. "No, I didn't."

"He was a pedigreed Siamese cat, with papers and everything. Very fancy." Kirsten smiled. Ryan smiled back.

Kirsten continued, "He had some long name like _His Royal Highness the Prince of China_, but we just called him Prince. Do you have a name for this one yet?"

"I'm calling her _Cat_." Ryan waited for Kirsten to make a comment like Seth did, but she just nodded.

Cat started to move, catching the attention of Ryan and Kirsten. They both looked down at her and watched as she tucked her front paws under, going from crouching to lying down. Ryan reached over and scratched her under the chin. She closed her eyes.

Kirsten looked back up at Ryan. "Have you had a cat before?" Ryan looked at her and shook his head. Kirsten asked, "I suppose you want to keep her?"

"Is that OK?"

"It's OK with me, but we'll have to convince Sandy. He doesn't like cats." Ryan looked concerned, so Kirsten continued, "Don't worry, I'll talk to him."

"Thanks." Ryan gave her a half-smile.

"You know, taking in a stray cat, that's the sort of thing my mom would have done. If my dad had let her, that is."

Ryan wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just nodded and said, "Can I borrow the car? I need to buy cat food and --"

Kirsten interrupted, "Yes, of course. I was going to order dinner from La Rocca's which as you know takes forever, so you should have plenty of time to go out before it gets here. Tell you what, I'll make you a list of what you'll need."

Ryan again just smiled and said, "Thanks."

"Well, I should go order dinner." Kirsten gave Cat a few strokes on the top of her head one last time, smiled at Ryan, and headed for the door.

Ryan stayed on the bed with Cat. He picked up his homework to see if he could get some done before he went shopping. He decided not to lock the door this time, since Seth and Kirsten already knew about Cat, and one of them would tell Sandy.

* * *

When Kirsten got back inside the kitchen, she found that Sandy was already home. "Hey, you're home early." She said, and kissed him on the cheek.

"You too."

"Did Seth tell you about Ryan's new friend?"

"I haven't talked to Seth. He must be upstairs." Sandy looked out at the pool house and saw all the shades down. "A girl?"

Kirsten laughed. "That's what I thought. No, it's a cat. Ryan found a stray cat."

Sandy frowned and glanced back out at the pool house. "A stray cat?"

Kirsten said quickly, "Sandy, I know you don't like cats, but --"

Sandy interrupted, "You're right, I don't. Vile, evil creatures. The way they look at you... Especially the strays. You don't know what they've been through or what damage it has done to them. They can be sweet one second and attacking you with their claws the next..."

"Sandy, I think this would be really good for Ryan. I worry about him, spending a lot of his time alone out there in the pool house. A cat would keep him company."

Sandy looked at Kirsten for a moment, considering. She looked like she was determined. He sighed and said, "It stays in the pool house. I don't want it in here."

Kirsten nodded. "Of course. She'd be Ryan's cat. And we can take anything out of the pool house that you don't want damaged."

Sandy grunted, not really happy with this, but going along for Kirsten.

* * *

Sandy decided he wanted to see this stray cat, so he headed out to the pool house. He knocked a couple of times, then went ahead in, without waiting for an answer, the way he usually did. He saw Ryan on the bed, doing his homework.

The cat took one look at Sandy and quickly headed off the far side of the bed. Sandy closed the door immediately. He wouldn't mind if the cat ran out and disappeared, but he knew Ryan would.

Ryan looked at Sandy and said, "You scared Cat!"

Sandy watched Ryan crawl over to the far side of the bed, and drop down to the floor, and look under the bed. Sandy came over to the near side of the bed, and also went down onto the floor and looked under the bed. He wanted to get a better look at this cat. It was crouching near the center of the bed, looking away from Sandy, towards Ryan. It had its ears halfway back. Sandy saw Ryan stretch his hand out under the bed towards the cat.

Sandy quickly said, "Don't! It could rip your hand to shreds."

"She wouldn't."

"You don't know what it would do. It's scared, like you said. See its ears?"

Ryan reluctantly withdrew his hand. He hated to admit it, but Sandy might be right. He saw Sandy stand up, and with one last look at Cat, he stood up as well.

Sandy said, "I talked to Kirsten. She seems to think this cat is a good idea. I'm willing to go along with it -- for now. We'll discuss this more over dinner, OK?"

"OK. Thanks." Ryan smiled. Sandy just grunted, and headed out the door.

After Sandy left, Ryan went back down on the floor and looked back under the bed at Cat. She was still crouching in the same spot, but her ears weren't back any more. She turned her head towards Ryan when he started talking to her. He wanted to get her out from under the bed. He tried coaxing her by talking to her and reaching in -- not too close -- with his hand.

She didn't move except to blink her eyes, flick her ears, and turn her head away from Ryan. After a while, she tucked her paws under, like before, going from crouching to lying down. At this point, Ryan knew she wasn't planning on going anywhere anytime soon. He figured she'd be OK staying there while he went shopping, and gave up trying to get her to come out. He got dressed to go out and headed for the house.

* * *

Ryan entered the kitchen and found Kirsten sitting at the counter. She looked over at him, and handed him a piece of paper, saying, "Here's the list of cat supplies."

Ryan looked at it and saw about a dozen things listed. "Do I really need all this stuff?"

"You don't need everything right away, just the items above the line. Basically the food related items, the litter box related items, and the pet carrier."

"Pet carrier?"

"To take Cat to the vet."

"Right, OK."

Kirsten handed him some money. Ryan counted it. "A hundred dollars? Do I really need this much?"

"Probably not, but keep it for future expenses. And also, I'll raise your allowance to cover the costs of the cat."

Ryan chuckled. Kirsten looked at him, puzzled. Ryan explained, "You're pretty much giving Cat her own allowance."

Kirsten chuckled too. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Ryan, as usual, was uncomfortable taking money from Kirsten. "Look, I'll pay you back. If I could get a job --"

Kirsten interrupted him. "Ryan, you know how Sandy and I feel about you having a job during the school year. Just take the money. For Cat."

Ryan sighed. He didn't want Cat to go without just because of him. "OK."

Kirsten smiled at Ryan and said, "I've ordered dinner from La Rocca's. It should be here in a little less than an hour, so you should get going."

Ryan smiled back at Kirsten, took the keys from the counter, and headed out.

* * *

45 minutes later, Ryan returned from his cat shopping. He parked the Range Rover in front of the front door and came in, leaving the front door open.

Sandy saw him come in and said, "Hey, welcome home. Did you get everything you needed?"

Ryan gave him a little smile and answered, "Yeah, I think so."

Ryan walked across the living room to the French doors and opened one of them. He then proceeded to make several trips from the Range Rover, through the living room, and to just outside the pool house, to carry everything out there. Then he pulled the Range Rover into the garage and headed out to the pool house, closing the doors as he went.

When Ryan got to the pool house, he carefully opened the door to check on where Cat was, and if she had been OK by herself while he was gone. She was curled up on the bed, peacefully sleeping. Obviously, she had recovered from her scare from when Sandy had come in.

Ryan quickly moved all of the supplies to just inside the door. Ryan saw Cat pick up her head and look over at him as he moved the bag with the canned and dry food in it. He figured she heard the sound of the dry cat food moving around inside the bag. So as soon as everything was inside and the door safely closed, Ryan picked up that bag and carried it over to the kitchen area.

He looked over at Cat. She was still watching him. He shook the bag to make the dry food make noise, saying to Cat, "Dinner's here."

Cat jumped down from the bed and followed him eagerly into the kitchen. Ryan opened one of the cans of cat food and put half of it down in the bowl he had used earlier for the tuna. Cat rushed right over and started in on it.

Ryan carried the litter box and the bag of kitty litter into the bathroom. Ryan hoped that Cat knew how to use it. Just as he was finishing filling up the litter box, he heard Kirsten call out, "Ryan, dinner's here!"

Ryan called back, "Be right there!"

Before Ryan headed into the house for his dinner, he walked over to where Cat was still eating her own dinner. He squatted down next to her and reached out and stroked her head and down her back. Cat looked up at Ryan. He scratched her under her chin a little, and said softly,

"Welcome home, Cat."


	4. The Dinner

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

Author's Notes: (1) Thanks for the reviews. (2) My alternate universe starts after Seth and Ryan's conversation at the beginning of "The L.A." Ryan and Marissa are broken up. Theresa's back in Chino. Seth and Ryan did **not** see Luke and Julie at the motel. This story takes place some time later. (3) As is probably obvious, I have cats of my own. One morning, I was lying in bed with one of my cats, and thought, "you know, Ryan really needs a cat".

* * *

** Chapter 4 **

Ryan walked into the kitchen from the back yard. Kirsten, Sandy, and Seth were already at the kitchen table, and all the food from La Rocca's was in dishes on the table. Ryan headed for the fridge to get himself a can of Coke.

As she watched him walk to the fridge, Kirsten said, "How's Cat?"

Sandy told her how Cat hid under the bed when he went in to check on her and Ryan, before Ryan went shopping. Kirsten was concerned that maybe Cat was still under the bed, or did some damage to the pool house while Ryan was gone, or even ran out as soon as Ryan opened the door after he got back.

After grabbing his Coke, Ryan gave Kirsten a little smile and said, "Fine. She's eating her dinner."

Ryan was eager to start in on his own dinner. He was hungry. He hurried over to the table and sat down at the place that was set for him. For once, he was happy. Cat was going to stay. And like Seth said, since he broke up with Marissa, and Theresa went home, he had a clean slate. _Angst-Free Ryan Month_ was working out great.

Ryan started filling his plate. Without being asked, Kirsten passed him the dish with the beef buritos, his favorite. She smiled to herself, seeing Ryan looking so happy.

Kirsten was also relieved to hear that Cat was doing OK. She made a mental note to go out there after dinner and check on her. Kirsten hadn't told anyone this, but she missed having a cat around. When she was a teenager, after her cat had to be put to sleep due to medical problems and old age, she had planned on getting a cat, or two, as soon as she had her own place. She had been disappointed to find out that Sandy disliked cats and refused to even consider getting one.

Seth was enjoying watching this whole thing unfold. He could see how happy his Mom and Ryan looked. He couldn't wait to see how things would turn out. He knew that his Mom always wanted to get a cat -- the way she used to talk about her cat _Prince_. So he wasn't surprised to hear that his Mom had talked his Dad into letting the cat stay. He also was not surprised that his Dad insisted that she stay out in the pool house.

Seth looked over at his Dad, who didn't look entirely happy.

Sandy wasn't entirely happy. He was already regretting agreeing to let that thing stay, anywhere on the property. It was going to be hard to keep it out of the house, since they all were used to leaving the French doors open, both in the pool house and in the main house. But he could see how happy Kirsten was. And, amazingly enough, Ryan. So, since it was staying, Sandy felt obligated to make sure that Ryan was going to take good care of it.

Sandy started right in, without any smalltalk, "Ryan. You know that this cat is your responsibility, right? Since it is going to stay with you, it is yours. You're making a commitment to it. You have to be the one to make sure it gets fed, every day, and has water, and a clean litter box. And you have to clean up any messes and fix any damage the cat causes. You'll also be responsible for taking it to the vet when needed."

During all this, Ryan and Seth exchanged amused glances. They've each been on the receiving end of many of Sandy's lectures. Lawyers do love to talk. Ryan also noticed how Sandy kept referring to Cat as "it". He kept wanting to correct Sandy that Cat was a "she", but since he didn't really know for sure that she _was_ a "she", Ryan figured he'd better just let it go.

When Sandy paused, Ryan jumped in, "Yeah, no, right, I know. I'll take good care of her, don't worry about it."

Kirsten also reassured him, "Sandy, cats are low-maintenance. Ryan can handle it. And since I have experience, I'll help out."

Seth just had to say, "And Dad, Ryan's 16, not 6."

Sandy replied to Kirsten, "Cats _are_ low-maintenance, but not no-maintenance." And to Seth, "And being 16 is sometimes worse than being 6." Both Sandy and Kirsten smiled at that one, and both Ryan and Seth rolled their eyes.

Sandy turned to Ryan and continued, "Yes, Kirsten can and will help out, but I don't want you taking advantage of her, of her generosity. The cat is your responsibility. Sure, there will be times when Kirsten, or Seth, will have to feed her, or whatever, such as when you are away. But don't expect it on a regular basis."

Ryan responded, "No, of course not. I'll take care of Cat myself."

Kirsten also chimed in, more gently than Sandy, "Ryan, remember to be gentle with her, and patient. Cats can be a handful. Since she's been out on her own, she may not be used to being with a person. She may scratch or bite you. Don't get mad at her, it's not personal."

Ryan nodded. "I'll be patient. I won't get mad at her... or well, at least, I'll try not to."

Kirsten continued, "And since she's an adult cat, it might be difficult for her to bond with you. It doesn't always happen. It is easier with a kitten."

Ryan replied, "We've already bonded."

Kirsten thought back to her visit to the pool house with Ryan and Cat earlier, and said, "Yes, I guess you have." Kirsten and Ryan both smiled at the thought.

Kirsten had one last thing she wanted to bring up. "The next thing we should do is to take Cat to the vet to get her shots and make sure she's healthy. I'll call Jimmy and get the name of the vet they used for Dustin."

Ryan responded to Kirsten, "Thanks." But he didn't want to think about the possibility that Cat wasn't healthy.

Seth was listening to all this, and now knew how things were going to turn out. The cat was staying. Permanently.

Sandy also could see that this was headed that way. He had a few more things he wanted to say, but he wanted to say them to Kirsten privately. So he changed the subject, "So, did anything else interesting happen today? Seth?"

And that was the end of the family discussion about Cat. To Ryan's relief, everyone resumed their normal dinnertime smalltalk.

* * *

After dinner, Seth went upstairs to finish his homework, and Ryan went back out to the pool house to check on Cat and go back to his own homework. Sandy and Kirsten stayed behind in the kitchen to clean up. Ryan knew that they wanted to talk privately, and hoped it wasn't anything bad.

Once they were alone, Sandy started off, "You know, if this cat doesn't work out, we can take it to the Newport animal shelter. They'll find a good home for it."

"I really hope the cat will work out. Ryan's already attached. Please don't mention the animal shelter to him." Kirsten didn't want to admit it, but she was already attached to Cat too, or at least to the idea of having her around.

Sandy knew his wife well enough to know what she wasn't saying. But he just responded to her words, "I know. The idea of the animal shelter would upset him, that's why I didn't mention it at dinner."

"Well, I think he may already be upset, since I mentioned the vet making sure the cat was healthy. Did you see his face?" Kirsten hoped that Cat _was_ healthy.

"Don't worry about it, sweetie. I'm sure Ryan's fine." Sandy kissed Kirsten on the cheek, to reassure her.

Sandy continued, "I think it's great, that you and Ryan share this interest in cats. It can be a good way for the two of you to get closer. I think you should be the one to deal with the cat issues from now on."

Kirsten smiled and put her arms around her husband. "You just don't want to get anywhere near the cat."

Sandy laughed and said, "That too. But I meant what I said."

"I know."

And husband and wife started making out in their kitchen.

* * *

While Kirsten and Sandy were talking in the house, Ryan was out in the pool house. When he walked in, Cat was resting in her already-usual spot on the bed. However, she immediately got up, jumped off the bed, and headed for the kitchen area. She stopped just inside the kitchen and looked back at Ryan to make sure he was following.

Ryan laughed and said to her, "I guess you want more food, huh?"

He followed her into the kitchen and put down the second half of the can of cat food that he had opened earlier. As before, Cat went right to work on it. Ryan sat down on the floor in the kitchen, leaned back against the cabinets, and watched Cat eat.

He went over in his mind everything that was said at dinner. He had already known himself everything that Sandy said. Cat was his responsibility, and he was prepared to take care of her. As for what Kirsten said, he pretty much knew all of that, too. He really hoped that the vet wouldn't find anything wrong with Cat. And if he did, Ryan hoped that Sandy wouldn't use that as a reason to tell him that he couldn't keep her.

Ryan saw Cat moving out of the corner of his eye, and it pulled him out of his thoughts. She had eaten some of the food, and now was moving over to the water bowl. She started lapping up the water the way cats do. Ryan was thinking that it was pretty cool how a cat does that. Unlike you'd might think, cats don't scoop up water on their tongues and bring it into their mouths. They have their tongues curled backwards. A cat puts its tongue into the water, and it absorbs the water. Then the cat brings its tongue into its mouth and sucks the water out. At least that's what Ryan saw on a PBS special, and it looked to him that was exactly what Cat was doing. Cool.

Ryan got up and went back over to his bed and settled down with his homework. After she was done eating and drinking, Cat followed and jumped up onto the bed next to him. She sat down and started washing again. Not the full cat-bath like last time. She just washed her face with her paws, both sides, and washed a little around her chest and front paws. Then she settled down right next to Ryan, curled up with her back against his leg.

Ryan continued to work on his homework, with Cat as company.

* * *

After she finished her talk and other things with Sandy, and finished cleaning up the kitchen, Kirsten headed out to the pool house to check on Ryan and Cat.

She knocked gently on the door a couple of times, and called out softly, "Ryan, can I come in?"

Ryan wondered why Kirsten came out to the pool house. He hoped that there wasn't anything that came out of her private talk with Sandy.

When Cat heard the knocking on the door, she picked her head up, and Ryan was preparing to comfort her, assuming that she'd get scared. But when she heard Kirsten's voice, she just put her head back down, and closed her eyes. Ryan thought that was interesting.

Ryan called out to Kirsten, "Come in, the door's open."

So Kirsten opened the door and entered, slowly and quietly, trying to not scare the cat. She was surprised when she saw Cat curled up next to Ryan with her eyes closed, not scared by her at all. She went and sat on the near side of the bed. Ryan was next to the far side of the bed, with Cat on his left. Kirsten leaned over and started to pet Cat on the top of her head.

Ryan said, "She likes to be scratched around her ears and under her chin."

Kirsten smiled a thanks at Ryan, and scratched Cat around her ears. Cat started to purr. Kirsten looked up at Ryan, and they both smiled at that.

Kirsten said, "So I guess she's doing OK. How are you?"

"I'm fine."

"Listen, about the vet's. Don't worry about it. I'm sure Cat's fine. I'm no expert, but she looks fine to me, and since she's eating and sleeping... And even if there is a problem, we'll deal with it."

"Yeah, no, I know." Ryan wondered how Kirsten knew he was worried about that.

"OK, well, I just wanted to make sure the two of you were all right. Have a good night and don't stay up too late. If you have any problems with her tonight, just let me know, and I'll see what I can do to help."

Ryan smiled and said, "OK. Thanks." Although he didn't really intend to wake her up, no matter what might happen.

Kirsten gave Cat one last scratch around the ears and headed back to the house. After she closed the pool house door, she stopped and turned around. Although she could no longer see them, since the shades were still down, she smiled knowing that Ryan was sitting on his bed doing his homework with Cat curled up next to him, keeping him company.

Kirsten was glad that Ryan and Cat had found each other.


	5. The Next Day

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

Author's Notes: Wow. I'm overwhelmed by all the kind words about my simple little story here. My first.

* * *

** Chapter 5 **

Ryan was sitting on his bed, still working on his endless mound of homework. Cat had gotten restless over the last hour or so and had been wandering all over the pool house, checking out every last corner, jumping up on everything. Ryan heard her in the kitchen, eating some dry food and drinking some water. He also heard her using the litter box -- that is, he heard her digging at the litter afterwards. So, good, she found it and knew how to use it.

She wanted to go out -- she scratched at one of the pool house doors -- but Ryan didn't want to take the chance that she'd run away or get lost, so he didn't want let her out yet. He went over and picked her up and carried her back to the bed with him. After a large amount of scratching around her ears and under her chin, running his hands through her fur, and other such attention, she finally settled back down next to him. Ryan went back to his homework.

There was a knock at the pool house door. Whoever it was waited for an answer before coming in. So Ryan answered, "It's open."

It was Seth. He came in, just inside the door, and shut it behind him. "Hey, man. It's almost 9."

Ryan looked over to his right at the clock. It was 8:52. "Hey, you're right. You've learned to tell time. Congratulations."

Seth gave Ryan a look like his humor wasn't appreciated, and said, "Wednesday night? 9 O'Clock? Our favorite show is on? Remember? _The Valley_?"

"Seth, I've got a mountain of homework today, and with Cat here and all I'm way behind. I'm going to have to skip it this week."

Seth whined, "But -- Summer's watching it this week at home with her Dad, and we always watch it together. I need _someone_ to listen to my unbelievably funny digs at Grady Bridges... Come on, man."

"Sorry. Can't."

"Fine, fine. If that cat is more important..." Ryan silenced him with a look.

Seth wanted get back on Ryan's good side, so he asked, "How is the cat doing anyway?"

"Hey, you haven't really met her yet. Why don't you come over here and see for yourself?"

At this point, Cat was lying next to Ryan with her head up, watching Seth. Ryan had his hand on her back, hoping to keep her from getting scared as Seth approached. The last time, when they met, Seth stayed near the door, so Ryan wasn't sure if Cat would see him as a friend or not, like she had with Kirsten.

Seth hadn't had much contact with cats, or dogs, or pretty much any pet for that matter. The only pet he'd ever had was a turtle he had briefly when he was 7. That turtle met with an unhappy ending, which Seth didn't like to think about. So he wasn't sure what to do when approaching this cat. He walked slowly forward and sat kind of awkwardly on the edge of the bed, keeping an eye on the cat the entire time. She didn't move.

Seth leaned over and stretched out his hand towards the cat's head. He remembered seeing some program on TV about approaching dogs and letting them sniff your hand before you pet them. He didn't know if cats were the same way, but he figured it couldn't hurt. So he unknowingly did the same thing that Ryan had done when he first approached the cat -- he stopped his hand an inch or two away from the cat's face and waited. Awkwardly.

Ryan watched Seth with some amusement, and tried hard not to laugh at him. Seth was lying in an odd position from the edge of the bed, reaching over to Cat near him. Cat didn't seem to know what to make of Seth, either. She got up into a sitting position, a foot or so away from Seth's outstretched hand.

Seth pulled back to sitting on the far edge of the bed. "She doesn't like me."

Ryan couldn't hold back a little chuckle. "She doesn't hate you, either. You should see what she did when your Dad came in. She immediately bolted and hid under the bed. And then she wouldn't come out, even after he left. She just needs to get used to you. You need to spend some time with her."

Seth was a little put out, and besides _The Valley_ was about to start. So he got up and went to the door. "Maybe later. I don't want to miss the beginning of the show."

Ryan watched Seth leave, and once Seth closed the door behind him, Ryan couldn't help but laugh at the memory of Seth stretched across the bed towards Cat. Ryan took Cat's head in both of his hands and scratched her along the neck and under the ears. And then went back to his homework, again.

* * *

The next morning, Ryan dragged himself and his bookbag into the kitchen, running late. Seth, Sandy, and Kirsten were already there, having their coffee and breakfast. Ryan dropped his bookbag next to the kitchen table, grabbed a box of cereal from the cabinet, sat down at the table, and started eating out of the box.

Sandy was the one standing closest to the coffee machine. He could see that Ryan really needed some coffee this morning, so he said to Ryan, "Coffee?"

Ryan looked over at Sandy, a little sleepily, and replied, "Thanks."

Sandy smiled, got a cup out of the cabinet, filled it with coffee, and brought it over to Ryan. "Rough night?"

Ryan sighed, figuring that he was going to get an _I told you so_ from Sandy. "Yeah. Didn't get much sleep. Lots of homework. Cat kept interrupting me, so it took forever to finish. Then when I finally did get to bed, Cat wouldn't settle down. I guess she's used to running around all night with her cat friends."

Sandy laughed, "Sounds like a boy I know." Ryan gave him one of his looks.

Kirsten thought this might happen. She reassured Ryan, "I'm sure she'll settle down once she gets used to living indoors with a family again. You may have a few sleepless nights first, though."

Ryan looked at Kirsten. "She wanted to go out, but I didn't want her to get lost and not be able to find her way back, so I didn't let her out. Was that right?"

"Yes, that was a good idea. You should keep her in for a few days so that she associates the pool house with _home_, and will come back to it. Maybe we can start letting her out over the weekend."

"What about today? While I'm at school? Will she be OK home alone?"

"She'll be fine. She'll probably sleep all day. Cats aren't like dogs. They like to be alone."

Ryan nodded, thoughtfully, and went back to eating his cereal and drinking his coffee.

Seth said to Ryan, "Come on, man, let's go. We're going to be late." It was going to be a long day.

* * *

When Ryan came home from school, the first thing he did was to check on Cat. It _had_ been a long day at school. He was tired and couldn't stop thinking about Cat all day. He was relieved to see her through the pool house door curled up on the rug, in a patch of sunshine. She looked so cute there. OK, he did _not_ just think that.

Seth walked up behind him and said, "Dude --" Ryan jumped, startled. He didn't hear Seth coming up behind him.

Seth laughed and said, "Dude, you really need to stop drinking so much coffee." Ryan just gave him a look.

Seth looked through the pool house doors and saw Cat on the rug. "Aw. The cat looks so cute!" Ryan looked at him sideways. Seth can't read thoughts, can he? Nah...

Ryan cleared his throat and said, "So where's Summer? Why aren't you with her?"

"She and Marissa went out for some girl-time. You know, shopping, exfoliating, whatever. She'll be by after dinner. Oh, I forgot --" Ryan watched Seth turn and hurry back into the house, to do whatever it was that he forgot to do.

Ryan opened the pool house door and walked in, hoping that Cat would wake up and come over to him. She didn't move. OK, so she's not a dog. Ryan dropped his bookbag on his bed and headed for the bathroom. When he came out, Cat still hadn't moved. Maybe she was just really deeply asleep. But Ryan couldn't stand it any more. He wanted a little _Ryan-Cat Time_. He went over and picked her up and brought her back to the bed with him. Of course, this woke her up. She shook her head and stretched her legs, front then back. After rubbing the side of her head against Ryan a little, she jumped off the bed and headed for the kitchen.

Ryan figured she'd be back after eating and drinking, so he stayed on his bed and opened his bookbag. He took out all his books and notebooks. He was organizing what all homework he had when he saw Cat come back out of the kitchen and settle back down in the sun on the rug. Well, so much for _Ryan-Cat Time_.

After he finished setting up what homework he had to do, he headed into the house to get something to snack on. Seth was sitting on the couch in front of the TV. When he saw Ryan come in, he said to him, "Hey, man, I tivo'ed _The Valley_ last night. Let's watch it. Since Summer's out, it's Seth-Ryan time."

Ryan felt a little bad about having to cancel out on Seth last night, even though he had no choice. And he knew that Seth really liked Seth-Ryan time, and pretty much counted on having some whenever Summer was out with Marissa. The truth was that Ryan rather liked Seth-Ryan time himself. And since Cat wasn't paying any attention to him right now, it was a good time to hang out with Seth.

So Ryan replied, "Yeah, great."

Ryan and Seth grabbed some snacks and drinks, and settled down in front of the TV to watch the previous night's episode of _The Valley_.

An hour or so later, after the show was over, Ryan headed back out to the pool house to start on his homework. By this time Cat was sleeping on the bed in her usual place. Ryan noticed that the patch of sunlight on the rug was gone. He guessed that she went back to her usual place when she couldn't bask in the sun any more.

* * *

When Kirsten got home from work, she grabbed her shopping bag from the car and headed out to the pool house. She was surprised at how excited she was to have a cat in the house. With Cat's arrival yesterday, she realized just how much she missed having a cat around. She couldn't resist doing a little shopping for Cat on her way home.

As she approached the pool house, she could see through the doors that Ryan was sitting on the bed doing his homework, and Cat was sleeping on the bed near him. This was pretty much the same scene as the last time she was in the pool house, last night. Since the shades were up, she didn't bother to knock, but just went ahead and opened the door.

Both Ryan and Cat looked over at her as she entered. Ryan said, "Hi."

"Hi. How are you and Cat doing?"

"Good." Ryan noticed that Kirsten had a shopping bag with her. "You went shopping?"

"I picked up a couple things for Cat."

Kirsten opened the shopping bag and took out a scratching post. She said to Ryan, "Hopefully this will keep her from scratching the furniture or the rug. But not all cats like to use a scratching post, so she may not even use it. We'll have to see."

Ryan nodded. He'd have to figure out a place to put that. Ryan saw Kirsten reach back into the shopping bag and take out something that made noise like jingle bells when she moved it. He saw that Cat was immediately interested by the sound. She stood up and went over to the edge of the bed.

Ryan watched Kirsten carry whatever it was over to the bed and hand it to him. Ryan looked at it. It was a package of three little balls which looked like miniature soccer balls. They were plastic and must be hollow, each with a bell inside. He shook the package, the bells jingled, and Cat came right over to check it out. Kirsten and Ryan both laughed.

Ryan said to Kirsten, "I guess she likes them. Thanks."

"I knew she would. Aren't they the cutest thing? I saw them in the store and since you play soccer, I thought they'd be perfect."

"Yeah, cute." Yeah, too cute. He'd have to hide these whenever anyone else was in the pool house. He didn't do cute. He'd have to tell Kirsten, some time, to not buy any more cute stuff.

Ryan opened the package and took out one of the balls and rolled it across the bed. Cat immediately went after it and batted it off the bed. She jumped down after it. Ryan could no longer see her, from where he was sitting on the bed, but he could hear the sound of the ball being batted around. It sounded to him like Cat was having a lot of fun.

Kirsten said, "Before I forget. I got the name of the vet from Jimmy, and called and made an appointment for you and Cat for tomorrow, Friday, at 4 O'Clock. Don't worry about payment. I set up an account, so they'll bill us whenever you take Cat in."

"OK, thanks."

"You should bring her in the pet carrier. I don't know if she's ever been in one, and even if so, it has probably been a long time. You might have some trouble getting her into it. So tomorrow start working on getting her into it some time before you have to leave for the appointment."

"OK."

"Well, I'll let you get back to your homework. Dinner will be here in about an hour."

Ryan nodded. Kirsten smiled at him and headed for the door. She picked up the now empty shopping bag and took it with her back to the house.

* * *

After dinner, Summer came over as expected, so she and Seth were off doing whatever they do alone together. Ryan was back out in the pool house with Cat.

He was sitting on the floor playing with Cat and her little soccer balls. He took one and shook it, making the bell jingle. Cat crouched down like there was a mouse or something there to stalk and attack. He rolled the ball in her direction. She reached out with a paw and batted at it, and it rolled back near him. He picked it up and rolled it back to her again. This time it got past her, and she went after it. She batted it away from her, then went chasing after it. She did this several times, until the ball got stuck behind the night table.

She sat there, crouching, looking at where she last saw it before it went out of sight behind the table, like she knew it was there and was waiting for it to come out on its own, like a mouse would. After watching Cat sit there for a minute and realizing that she wasn't going to move on her own any time soon, Ryan picked up another one of the balls and shook it, getting her attention. She turned towards him and got into a crouch. He rolled the ball past her and she went chasing after it.

Ryan got on his hands and knees and crawled the few feet over to the night table and retrieved the first ball. He sat back down next to the night table and watched Cat bat the second ball around. He remembered being in second or third grade and going over to a friend's house who had a cat. They played with the cat there in just the same way. And she was just as cute as Cat was playing with her balls. OK, he's got to stop doing that. Not cute. There's nothing cute here. Cool. Yeah, that's it. This was just really cool.

Seth and Summer were standing outside the pool house doors. They watched with some amusement as Ryan threw the balls to the cat, and she would play with them. When she couldn't stand it any more, Summer opened the pool house door, walked in and said, "This is _so_ cute!"

Seth walked in right behind her and closed the door. He gave Ryan a grin and said, "Playing with your cat? What are you, like 8?"

Ryan gave them both a look that could kill.

Seth knew that look and knew that this time, Ryan wouldn't be too tolerant of more jokes at his expense. So he grabbed Summer and said to Ryan, "OK, well, I just wanted Summer to meet your cat. We'll be going now."

Ryan continued to give them the death stare as they left the pool house. But he was not as mad as he let Seth think. He had noticed that Seth said, twice, _your cat_. He had never had anything of his own before, not like this.

'Wow,' Ryan thought, 'She's _my cat_.'


	6. The Vet

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

Author's Notes: (1) Still overwhelmed by the reviews. Thanks very much. (2) The details of the vet visit here I'm sure are not entirely accurate. Call it dramatic license.

* * *

** Chapter 6 **

On Friday morning, Sandy headed out to the pool house. He wanted Kirsten to handle all of the cat-related issues, but he was stuck with it this morning since Kirsten had to leave early for a breakfast meeting with Caleb. He hadn't been in the pool house since he came out here on Wednesday evening and the cat hid under the bed. He didn't expect anything different this time.

As he approached the pool house, he could see through the doors that Ryan was picking out his clothes for school. The cat was sitting near him, washing the right side of its face with its right front paw. Sandy watched Ryan turn and talk to the cat. It didn't react at all, unless you count the slight turning back of its ears, the partial closing of its eyes, and the little movement of its tail. These subtle cat behavioral clues didn't appeal to Sandy at all. Give him a nice obvious dog wagging its tail, or jumping up on him and licking his face, any day.

Sandy opened the door, walked into the pool house, and closed the door behind him. The cat did a similar thing as last time: it took one look at him, and quickly went out of sight behind Ryan and his laundry basket and the shoes that Ryan had on the floor in front of the storage shelves where he kept his clothes.

Ryan saw the whole thing. He turned to Sandy and said, "Sorry about that. I don't know why she doesn't like you."

"Cats have never liked me, and the feeling is mutual. Besides, the cat is not the one that I came out here to see. I came to remind you that you have to take your cat to the vet's after school. 4 O'Clock."

"Yeah. I remember." Ryan noticed that even Sandy was referring to her as _your cat_ now.

"Do you know where the vet's office is?"

"Yeah. I'm all set."

"Kirsten had to leave for work early. She left you the Range Rover. You and Seth can take it to school, then you can use it to take your cat to the vet's this afternoon."

"OK, great."

"Great. Well, I'm off too. Good luck at the vet's and I'll see you tonight."

"Thanks."

Sandy nodded to Ryan and headed off to work.

Once Sandy was gone, Ryan figured that Cat would come out by herself, so he went ahead and got dressed and got his books together in his bookbag. Since Cat still hadn't reappeared by the time he was done, Ryan got down onto the floor and looked under the storage area. She was curled up against the wall, behind the sneakers that he never wore. She had her eyes closed and looked almost asleep. Since he was about to leave for school, Ryan didn't feel the need to try and get her to come out, or to reach in and pull her out. He spoke to her, and she flicked the tip of her tail a couple of times, showing that she heard him. That was good enough for Ryan. He left her under there, grabbed his bookbag, and headed over to the house.

In the kitchen, Ryan found Seth sitting at the island counter eating cereal and drinking coffee. He went and got his own cereal and coffee and sat down next to him.

Ryan said, "Hey."

Seth replied, "Hey."

It looked to Seth like Ryan wasn't still mad about his joke last night, but just in case he was a little, Seth decided to make nice and ask about Ryan's cat, even though the cat wasn't his favorite person, so to speak. Seth was beginning to see why his father didn't like cats.

"So, Ryan, how's your cat doing? How was last night? You don't seem as out of it this morning as you were yesterday."

Ryan looked over at Seth, gave him a _gee thanks_ look, and said, "It was better. She slept more than the first night, but she still didn't sleep through the night. She still kept waking me up."

Seth laughed and said, "Sounds as if you have a baby out there instead of a cat."

Ryan gave Seth another one of his looks and said, "A baby wouldn't be playing in the middle of the night with those balls with the bells in them. They were driving me crazy. I had to get up and find them all and put them in a drawer, to keep Cat away from them."

"Where did you get those, anyway? I can't imagine you buying them."

"I didn't. Your Mom bought Cat some stuff, which she didn't have to do." And he wished that she hadn't. Too cute. And too noisy in the middle of the night.

Seth quipped, "You know my Mom -- all about the shopping."

Ryan smiled and said, "Oh, yeah, she left us the Range Rover today. Because I have to take Cat to the vet's this afternoon."

"Sweet."

"Are you going over to Summer's after school?"

"Yup. And we have a date tonight. Dinner and a movie."

Ryan sighed and took a sip of his coffee. He really needed the caffeine. "I'm so tired. I just hope I don't fall asleep in English. Mrs. Garcia's voice is so monotonous."

Ryan and Seth finished their breakfasts and headed off to school in the Range Rover.

* * *

After school, Ryan drove the Range Rover home by himself, since Seth went over to Summer's. Ryan arrived home about half an hour before he and Cat had to leave for the vet appointment. Since Kirsten warned him that it might take a while to get Cat into the pet carrier, Ryan figured he'd better start trying as soon as he got to the pool house.

On his way out there, Ryan stopped in the kitchen and got something to drink and a snack. He brought them out to the pool house with him. He found Cat there lying on the rug in the sun, like yesterday. And also similar to yesterday, she didn't have much of a response when he came in. This time she did pick up her head and look at him, but then she just put it back down again and closed her eyes.

Ryan headed for the kitchen island and put his drink and snack down on the counter and put his bookbag on one of the chairs there. He figured that if Cat was just going to lie there, it would be easy to just pick her up and put her in the carrier, so he took the time to sit down and eat his snack.

While he was eating, he sat sideways to the counter so he could keep an eye on Cat. Unfortunately, she spoiled his plans by getting up. She stretched as she usually did when getting up after sleeping, then she walked over and jumped up to the upper part of the pool house. She headed for the bathroom, going out of Ryan's sight when she walked through the doorway. In a few seconds, Ryan could hear her eating some dry food in the kitchen. Both of the doors into the bathroom were open, so she must have just walked through the bathroom on her way to the food in the kitchen. Which gave him an idea.

Ryan looked around the pool house, assessing it for places that Cat might hide. He figured that the only place that Cat might go that he couldn't get her out would be under the bed. Every other place, like in the cabinets in the kitchen, he would be able to reach in and get her out, as long as he could put up with any scratching or biting. But with the bed, she could go too far in for him to reach, especially near the middle at the top of the bed. If he wasn't able to get her out, he'd have to reschedule the vet appointment. But, if he could get her into the bathroom, with both doors closed, there was no place that she could hide that he couldn't get her.

While he was making these plans, Ryan could hear Cat finish eating some dry food and drinking some water. Then she surprised him by jumping up to the counter that he was sitting at. She landed lightly on her feet. Ryan thought it was so cool how cats could jump up so far above their heads so easily. Cat came over and sniffed at the food he was eating. Apparently she didn't find anything interesting because after a few seconds she stopped investigating it and sat down on the counter next to Ryan's arm. She leaned over and rubbed the side of her head against the back of his hand. Ryan turned in his chair to face the counter, and Cat.

Ryan was almost done with his snack, so he decided to keep her occupied there on the counter with him until he was done, then put her in the bathroom. So while he finished eating, he scratched her around the ears like she loves. She started to purr. She wasn't going anywhere. When he was done eating, he picked Cat up and carried her into the bathroom. While he held her, he closed the door that led into the kitchen, then he went to the door that led into the main part of the pool house. He closed the door most of the way, then put her down inside the bathroom and quickly closed the door.

After he cleaned up from his snack and drink, he went over and got the pet carrier from the side of the pool house where he had stashed it. He carried it over to the bathroom and carefully opened the door, trying to block it so that if Cat was right inside wanting out, he could stop her. She wasn't, so he quickly entered with the carrier and closed the door behind him. Ryan set the pet carrier down on the floor, and opened the carrier door.

He quietly walked over to where Cat was sitting near the litter box, picked her up, petted her a little, and put her into the carrier. She didn't like that. She tried to quickly turn around and get out. Ryan was quicker, though, and shut the door in her face before she could make it out. Now Ryan found out that she had a voice. Boy did he find out. She yowled and meowed, and tried to dig her way out, and pawed at the door. She was not very happy.

Ryan sat down on the floor next to the carrier and tried to settle her down by talking to her and petting her through the door. Although he couldn't do much of that because of her claws. He got scratched a couple times on his fingers before he gave up. When it came time to leave, she was still upset. Ryan figured he couldn't do anything more about it and just picked up the carrier, opened the bathroom door, and headed to the car. It was going to be a long drive if she was going to be like this the entire way.

* * *

Ryan walked into the vet's office, carrying the pet carrier with Cat in it. She had settled down during the car trip and was not digging any more, and only meowing every once in a while. Ryan approached the receptionist's counter, set the pet carrier on the floor, and waited for the receptionist to finish helping a man with a puppy.

When the receptionist was done, she turned to Ryan, smiled, and said, "Can I help you, hun?"

Ryan hated it when strangers called him things like _hun_, but since she was an older woman, he didn't want to say anything. So he just replied, "I have an appointment. At 4 O'Clock."

The receptionist consulted her computer screen and said, "Are you Ryan?"

"Yes."

The receptionist stood up and pulled over in front of Ryan a clipboard with a form on it. She picked up a pen and used it to point out the different parts of the form as she referred to them.

"OK, I need you to fill out this form. At the top here, where it says _Owner's Name_ and _Spouse/Other_, put in your parents' names. Put your name and any other brothers or sisters down here where it says _Children & Visitor Names_. Don't worry about the part in the middle here where it says _Payment_. That's already been taken care of when your mother called. Fill in the _Pet Information_ section at the bottom with the information about your cat. You can sit in one of those chairs over there, and just bring the form back to me when you're done. I'm here if you have any questions or need any help." And she smiled at him again, in a grandmotherly way.

Ryan didn't know what else to say, so he just said, "OK."

He took the clipboard and pen in one hand, and picked up the pet carrier in the other. He walked over to the chairs that the receptionist indicated, and sat down in one. He set the pet carrier on the floor next to him. He turned it so that the door was facing towards him. He bent down and looked inside to see how Cat was doing. She was crouching all the way in the back. When she saw him look in, she meowed at him a couple times. She looked like she was doing good enough, so Ryan sat back and started to fill out the form.

It sounded so weird when the receptionist referred to the Cohens as his parents and Kirsten as his mother. He wanted to correct her, but he didn't know what to say -- he didn't know how to explain it to someone who didn't already know what was going on. So Ryan decided not to say anything. It was just easier to let the vet's office continue thinking that he was Kirsten and Sandy's son.

When he finished filling out the form, as much as he could, he took it back to the receptionist. He left Cat in the pet carrier by the chairs. The receptionist took the clipboard and pen from him, saying, "Are you finished, hun? OK, let's see... the cat's name is _Cat_?"

Ryan was a little embarrassed, afraid that she would think that it was stupid. But he said, "Yeah."

The receptionist looked up at Ryan, and must have been able to see that he was embarrassed, because she smiled and said, "Sugar, on this job, I've seen plenty of cats named _Cat_, dogs named _Dog_, gerbils named _Gerbil_..."

The receptionist looked back down at the form, pointed with the pen at the _Pet Information_ section, and said, "You didn't finish filling out the information about Cat."

Ryan wasn't able to check off if Cat was male or female, spayed/neutered or not, or fill in what her age was. "She's a stray. She just showed up the other day. I put down all I know."

"OK. Well, everything else looks in order. Have a seat. It should only be a few minutes." She smiled at him again. Boy does she smile a lot. Ryan guessed you had to, on this job.

Ryan gave her a little smile back, and said, "Thanks." He walked back over to the chairs and sat back down next to Cat and waited.

After about 5 minutes, a twentysomething woman came into the reception area from the back room. She was wearing dark blue hospital-type scrubs. Ryan figured that she wasn't the vet because she was too young. She was probably the equivalent of a nurse. Ryan watched this "pet nurse" go over to the receptionist. The two conferred for a few minutes apparently about several cases because Ryan saw them look at more than one case folder. Then she took one of the folders, opened it up, and walked around the receptionist's counter towards the waiting area. She looked straight at Ryan, smiled at him, and said, "Ryan? with Cat?"

Ryan thought that she had a great smile, definitely _not_ grandmotherly. He smiled back and nodded. He stood up and reached down and picked up the pet carrier. She said to him, "I'm Cathy. Follow me please."

She turned and headed into a different room from the one she came from. He followed her in. It was an examination room. She closed the door, then lowered a tabletop which was folded up onto the wall. Ryan lifted the pet carrier up onto the tabletop. Cat was crouching close to the door. Ryan took a chance and tried sticking a finger in to pet her on the nose. She accepted that and didn't claw him, which was good.

Cathy asked him questions about Cat, which he answered, and she made notes about his answers on a sheet in Cat's folder. She asked about how long Ryan had had Cat, about the food he was giving her, whether she went outside, whether there were any problems he noticed, and other stuff. During this, Cat was pretty much on good behavior, just meowing a few times.

After Cathy was done asking questions, she came over to the tabletop and opened the carrier door. Ryan thought he'd have to try and pull Cat out, and risk serious bodily injury, but Cathy seemed to want Cat to come out on her own, so Ryan held back to see what Cat would do. To his surprise, after a few seconds, she slowly started to walk out on her own. It took a little time, but eventually Cat was completely out of the carrier and standing on the tabletop.

Cathy closed the carrier door behind Cat, saying to Ryan, "Let's get that closed. It is hard to get them into the carrier at home, but when they get here, they like to go back in."

Ryan just nodded. He then watched Cathy pick Cat up and carry her over to a countertop on one side of the room. She said to Cat, "Let's see how much you weigh."

Ryan saw that there was a scale on the countertop, just the right size to weigh small animals like cats. Cathy put Cat on the scale. Cat wanted to jump right off, but Cathy gently held her there for a few seconds, at which point she said, "OK. Seven and a half pounds."

Cathy carried Cat back to the tabletop. She looked at Ryan, smiled, and said, "The doctor will be with you in a few minutes."

Ryan replied, "Thanks."

And with that, Cathy left the examination room and closed the door behind her.

There was a chair in the room, next to the tabletop, so Ryan sat down. That put his head and shoulders right next to Cat, who was on the tabletop. It was convenient for petting her. But she had other ideas. She jumped down and went right over to the door. Ryan decided that cats were smart. They know what a door is and that it is the way out. Cat sniffed around the door a little, then walked a little bit away from the door and looked around the room. When she got back to facing the door, she crouched down and seemed fascinated by watching people walk by. She could see their feet under the door.

So Ryan sat and watched Cat and waited for the vet.

A couple minutes later, the door opened and another woman entered. This one was definitely the doctor. She was dressed like one. Ryan's attention was drawn away from the doctor by Cat, who was heading for the open door. Ryan reached forward from his seat to try and block her path. The doctor saw it too and quickly closed the door.

Since Cat was now at her feet, the vet reached down and picked her up and put her on the tabletop. Cat just crouched down, looking a little wary, but didn't look like she was about to attack anyone. Ryan reached over and petted the top of her head, to try and comfort her.

The doctor looked at Ryan, who was still seated, and said, "Hi. Ryan, right? I'm Dr. Kimball."

Ryan said, "Hi."

The vet asked Ryan some questions about Cat. Some were a follow up to the questions that the pet nurse had asked. And she explained to Ryan about the different shots that Cat would need. Once she was done with the questions and explanations, she started to do a physical exam of Cat.

The doctor looked at Cat's ears and her eyes. She turned Cat's head and opened her mouth and looked at her teeth. Then she ran her hands along Cat's body, feeling her internal organs. The vet gave Ryan a running commentary of what she was doing. She said she checked Cat's thyroid, her kidneys, and her bladder. She lifted up Cat's tail and looked underneath. She used a stethescope to listen to Cat's heart.

During all this, Cat didn't look too happy about the attention, but she didn't scratch or bite, or try too hard to get away, which surprised Ryan a little. But he figured that the doctor was enough of an expert at handling cats that she knew how to keep Cat under some kind of control. While the vet was listening to Cat's heart with the stethescope, Cat did kind of inch her way to the edge of the tabletop, like she wanted to jump off, but the vet blocked Cat with her body, so she couldn't go anywhere. And Ryan reached over and held Cat's head a little, to try and keep her in place.

When she was done, the doctor looked at Ryan and said, "Well, she's definitely a female. And she's been spayed, probably when she was under a year old. She's probably about 3 years old now, give or take. She's basically in good health."

Ryan nodded, relieved. That was good news.

The doctor continued, "She's had some minor injuries that have healed, such as the ones you can see on her ear here and under the ear over here, probably from fights with other cats."

Ryan nodded again. He had guessed that.

"You mentioned to Cathy that Cat had some soft poop, so I'm going to take a fecal sample and check for intestinal parasites or other problems. We'll take her into the other room for that, plus we'll give Cat her shots back there."

Ryan said, "OK."

The vet called Cathy back in to the exam room over an intercom. Cathy came in and she and the vet took Cat and her carrier, separately, out of the exam room and into the back room. Ryan followed them out of the exam room and went over to the reception area and sat down and waited, again.

About 10 minutes later, Dr. Kimball and Cathy came out of the back room. Cathy was holding the pet carrier, with Cat in it. The doctor was carrying some paperwork and something that looked like medicine. Ryan got up and went over to them. Cathy put the pet carrier down on the floor, gave Ryan a little smile, and headed back into the back room.

The vet turned to Ryan and told him, "As I suspected, Cat has an intestinal parasite called Coccidia. Here is some information about it and some medication that you'll have to give her."

Ryan took the stuff that the vet handed him. He was concerned. "Is Cat going to be OK?"

"She's young and healthy. The medication will clear it up in 10 days to 2 weeks. She'll be fine. You'll be able to enjoy 10 to 15 good years with Cat. This is a liquid medication that you'll have to give Cat by mouth every day. The information sheet explains it in more detail. It is pretty straightforward, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to call the office here and one of us will help you."

"Thanks."

"Do you have any questions?"

Ryan replied, "No."

The doctor smiled at Ryan, and said, "Good luck." Then she headed for the back room also.

Cat started meowing in her pet carrier, so Ryan picked it up and raised it up to eye level so he could look in and see how she was doing. She looked ready to get out of here. Ryan said to her, "Let's get you home."

Ryan lowered the pet carrier down to his side and turned and saw the receptionist smiling at him in her grandmotherly way again. She said to him, "That stray cat is very lucky that she has someone like you to take her home."

Ryan smiled back at her and said, "Thank you."

"Bye now. Good luck."

And Ryan and Cat left the vet's office and headed home.


	7. The Family

Title: Ryan's Cat

Summary: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat.

Author's Notes: This is the last chapter of this story. A final thanks for all the kind words in the reviews and on TWoP. And a final thanks to my beta, Eileen.

* * *

** Chapter 7 **

Ryan and Cat arrived back at the house in the Range Rover after Cat's vet appointment. Ryan parked the car and grabbed Cat in her pet carrier and headed through the kitchen and out to the pool house. No one else in the family was home. Seth was out with Summer and would be until late, and Sandy and Kirsten were not home from work yet.

Ryan carried the pet carrier into the pool house and made sure to shut the door behind him. He figured that she'd be a little mad at him about the vet visit and would be more likely to run away right now, so it was even more important now to make sure the doors were shut.

Ryan put the pet carrier down on the rug near the foot of the bed, opened the door, and stood back. Cat immediately walked out of the carrier. She paused a little and looked around, like she was deciding where to go. Then she headed for the stairs, ran up them the way that cats do, and went into the kitchen.

Ryan put the carrier away on the side of the room where he had it before. Then he took the medicine for Cat and went up to the kitchen island. He sat down at the counter there and looked through the information about it. It looked straightforward, like the vet said. He opened the box and took out the medicine and checked it out. He didn't need to do anything right now. The instructions said twice a day, so he planned to do it in the morning and after dinner. While he was doing all this, he heard Cat drinking some water then digging at the litter box.

Ryan got up and took off his boots and his outer shirt, leaving him in socks, jeans, and black t-shirt. He headed over to the bed and lay down on his back. As soon as he was lying down, Cat walked onto the bed from the upper area of the pool house, across one of the pillows. She curled up within arm's reach. Good, Ryan thought, she wasn't mad after all. Ryan reached over and petted her head and ran his hands through her fur. It was so soft and warm. Cat started to give herself a bath.

Ryan was tired, he didn't sleep much in the last two nights since Cat came. And it was Friday, after another challenging week at school. And the vet visit kind of drained him. He just wanted to lie here for a while.

Like on Wednesday, once she was done with her bath, Cat stood up and climb up on him. She settled in like before, and Ryan started stroking her back like before, in long slow strokes. He could feel her warmth through his t-shirt. Ryan closed his eyes, just to rest them a little. Before he knew it, he was asleep.

* * *

When Kirsten got home from work, she headed right out to the pool house to see what happened at the vet's. Through the doors, she could see Ryan on the bed, fast asleep, with Cat sleeping on top of him. She thought that was so sweet. Kirsten remembered how her cat used to sleep lying on her the same way. She missed that.

From where she was outside the doors, Kirsten could see that there were some papers and other stuff on the counter of the kitchen island. Since Ryan wasn't available to tell her how the vet visit went, she figured she could find out from the paperwork. Kirsten entered the pool house as quietly as she could, trying to not wake up Ryan and Cat. Unfortunately, Ryan was just lightly sleeping, and he woke up quickly when she entered. He looked over at her and gave her a little smile. Cat stayed asleep.

Kirsten said quietly, "Hey. Sorry to wake you. How was the vet appointment?"

Ryan replied, also quietly so as to not disturb Cat, "Good. She's basically OK. She is a she, about 3 years old. She's been spayed. They gave her some shots and stuff. There is a little problem, and the vet gave me some medicine to give her, but it will clear up and she'll be fine."

"Medicine? Is that it up there?" Kirsten asked, gesturing towards the kitchen island.

"Yeah, that's it. I looked through the instructions. Looks easy enough."

Kirsten was relieved that Cat turned out to be healthy. She walked up the stairs and went to the kitchen island counter. She read the information sheet and looked at the medication. It didn't look too serious, and it looked like Ryan should be able to handle it.

Kirsten looked back over at Ryan and Cat, who were still lying on the bed. She headed back down the stairs and went over to the side of the bed. She reached over and carefully petted Cat, trying not to disturb her. Kirsten didn't want to make Cat wake up and jump off of Ryan, but she just couldn't resist petting her. Unfortunately, Kirsten's actions did wake Cat up. Cat got up onto her feet and walked off of Ryan and onto the bed.

Kirsten looked at Ryan and said, "Sorry."

"That's OK. I should be getting up anyway." Ryan said, but didn't make any move to actually do it.

Just as she couldn't resist petting Cat, now Kirsten really wanted to pick her up. She asked Ryan, "Is it OK if I pick Cat up? Does she like to be picked up? My cat Prince didn't like to be picked up or held, he'd push with his front paws against you and after just a couple of minutes he'd struggle until you put him down."

Ryan looked at Kirsten like he was sorry. So Kirsten said, "Oh, it was OK, he did like to come up and sit on my lap or lie on me like Cat was just doing. He just didn't like to be restrained."

Ryan gave Kirsten a half smile, and nodded. "Yeah, you can pick Cat up. She hasn't struggled yet, so I guess she likes it."

Kirsten smiled her thanks to Ryan and reached over and picked Cat up. She held Cat close and snuggled with her, enjoying every second of it. Cat started to purr. Apparently she liked it too. But then she started to show an interest in something in Kirsten's pocket.

Kirsten noticed this, and said, "Oh, I almost forgot..."

She put Cat back down on the bed with a few strokes on the top of her head, then pulled a small paper bag out of her pocket. She told Ryan, "I bought a couple more things for Cat."

Kirsten opened the bag and pulled out a couple of catnip toys. She figured it must have been the smell of the catnip that caught Cat's attention. She handed the toys to Ryan. Cat watched Kirsten's movements with interest, then stepped forward to sniff at the toys once they were in Ryan's hand. One of the toys was a simple little square of cloth, filled with catnip. The other one was in the shape of a cute little mouse, with eyes and ears and tail and whiskers, also filled with catnip.

Great, Ryan thought, something else that's cute. Kirsten saw his less than enthusiastic response. "You don't like them?"

Ryan looked at Kirsten and decided it was now or never. "No, it's not that. It's just... The mouse, it's cute. Like the little soccer balls were cute. I don't do cute."

Kirsten couldn't help but grin at that. It was so like Ryan for him to say something like that. "Of course you don't. Sorry. I'll try to remember next time. No cuteness."

Ryan knew Kirsten was probably laughing at him, on the inside, but as long as she did what she said she would, he could put up with it. So Ryan said, "Thanks."

Kirsten figured she'd better change the subject. "So I was thinking of ordering from Antonucci's for dinner. Your usual? Ziti with meatballs and extra bread?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

Kirsten gave Cat one last scratch on the top of her head and headed into the house to order dinner for the family.

* * *

Kirsten, Sandy, and Ryan sat down at the kitchen table for their dinner from Antonucci's. Kirsten had ordered three dinners, one for each of them, and Sandy had picked them up on his way home from work. They left open one set of French doors in the kitchen since it was such a nice April evening.

Ryan filled Sandy and Kirsten in on the details of his visit to the vet. And all three of them engaged in standard family dinnertime smalltalk about how their days went at work and school and about their plans for the weekend. During a break in the conversation, while all of them were busy eating, Sandy looked up from his food at their little family of three and smiled to himself.

Kirsten noticed Sandy smiling. She caught his eye and asked him, "What?"

"I was just thinking that this is nice. Just the three of us. We don't get to do this very often."

Ryan laughed softly. "Yeah, when Seth's here, we don't get to hear ourselves think!"

Kirsten and Sandy laughed at that too.

Then Sandy noticed Ryan's cat walking down the steps from the pool house, headed for the open kitchen door. Sandy was sitting at the end of the table facing the door, so he saw her first. He said, "Um, Ryan, are you letting your cat out already?"

Ryan and Kirsten followed where Sandy was looking and turned their heads towards the door just in time to see Cat walk through it. Sandy didn't like the cat coming into the house, but he already resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn't be able to keep her out, so he didn't try to chase her away or anything.

Ryan, still looking at Cat, replied to Sandy, "No, I'm not. Not intentionally anyway."

Ryan looked up at the pool house and saw that the door he used when he came over for dinner was open a little. "Damn... I must not have latched the door all the way."

Ryan called softly to Cat and put his left hand down next to his chair and moved it around a little, trying to get her to come over to it. He noticed that she liked hands, probably because she associated them with getting petted. Cat looked over at Ryan and saw his hand and did walk over to it and rub her head against it. Ryan tried to reach out and pick her up, intending to carry her back out to the pool house. But Cat backed away and didn't let him get ahold of her. She turned around and headed back out the door.

Ryan was concerned, so he started to get up and go after her. But he stopped when Kirsten said, "Ryan. She'll be OK. We were going to let her out tomorrow anyway, right? And it doesn't look like she's running away. See -- she's just exporing the back yard."

Ryan looked over at Cat and indeed she was sniffing around the steps and plants right outside the kitchen door. Then she headed up the steps and started sniffing around the items up there. Ryan decided that he didn't want to let Cat out of his sight, so he said to Kirsten and Sandy, "I'm going to eat outside and keep an eye on Cat."

Ryan picked up his plate and glass and went outside to the table near the pool and sat down there. Kirsten watched Ryan go out, looked at Sandy and said, "Well, it _is_ a nice night..."

Sandy nodded his agreement, and the two of them took their plates and glasses and went outside and sat at the table with Ryan. The three of them sat quietly and ate and watched Cat walk around checking everything out.

When Cat approached the pool, Ryan was concerned. He asked Kirsten, "What about the pool? What if she goes in or falls in? Can she drown?"

Kirsten reassured Ryan, "I wouldn't worry about it. Cats don't like water, especially chlorinated water, like the pool. I suppose it is possible that she could fall in, but cats can swim, when they have to."

Ryan nodded and went back to watching Cat. He watched her sniff at the pool and quickly move away, so he guessed that Kirsten was right. Then he watched, amused, as Cat spotted a bird and immediately crouched down and went into stalk mode. The bird flew off and Cat got out of her crouch and took a couple of steps towards where it went. It quickly disappeared, at which point Cat stopped and looked around like 'where did it go?'.

Ryan and Kirsten laughed, then went back to quietly watching Cat. Sandy shook his head, not understanding the fascination with just watching a cat wander around the back yard. So he said to them, "You know, if she was a dog, she'd be right over here with us, paying attention to us, begging us for table scraps."

Ryan and Kirsten looked at each other, and shook their heads themselves. Kirsten said with a smile, "Dog people can just never understand." Ryan nodded his agreement.

* * *

Seth arrived home earlier than expected because he and Summer got into a big fight before dinner and they never made it to dinner or the movie. When he got home, he figured that his family would still be eating, so he went looking for them in the kitchen. He found some stuff on the kitchen table like it had been used for dinner, but no family. Then he spotted them sitting at the table outside and headed out there.

Sandy saw Seth approach and said, "Hey. I thought you were going to be out late with Summer."

"We got into a fight." Seth looked at what they were eating and saw that they each had their own dinner, and that was all.

Kirsten noticed him looking at their food and figured that he hadn't eaten dinner yet. So she told Seth, "Grab a plate, we can share."

Kirsten looked over at Ryan and Sandy for agreement, and they nodded their heads and both said, "Yeah, sure."

Seth smiled at them, and headed back into the kitchen to grab a plate, utensils, and drink for himself. When he got back out, he sat down and his plate was passed around from his Mom to his Dad to Ryan. Each of them added a bit of their own dinner. So Seth ended up with a combination platter of his family's dinners: his Mom's vegetable lasagna, his Dad's sausage and pepperoni calzone, and Ryan's ziti. He started right in on it.

During the excitement of Seth's arrival, Ryan took his eyes off of Cat, so now he looked around for her. He spotted her next to the pool house, in the barbecue area. He went back to watching her, in between taking bites of his dinner.

Seth noticed that Ryan kept looking over behind him. He turned around to see where Ryan was looking, asking him, "Dude, what _are_ you looking at?"

Sandy jumped in before Ryan could answer. He said sarcastically, "Ryan and your Mom insisted that we all sit out here and watch Ryan's cat wander around the back yard. Totally mesmerizing."

Ryan and Kirsten each gave Sandy a look of exasperation. Seth laughed. He looked back behind him and spotted the cat checking things out near the barbecue. All four of them watched as Cat jumped up next to the barbecue, investigated the area briefly, then jumped off the other side, out of sight.

Ryan didn't want Cat to go out of the yard, so he quickly got up and went over behind the barbecue area to get her. Ryan was able to grab her without too much trouble. He carried her back into the pool house through the door that was still partly open from when she snuck out. He closed the door behind him and made sure it was completely latched. He put Cat down on the bed.

To keep Cat happy, he picked up the catnip mouse and gave it to her. Ryan watched as she batted it off the bed and jumped down after it. She pounced on it and flopped down on her side. She held it in her front paws and raked it with her back claws. She brought it up to her face and rubbed her face against it, then she started licking it.

While Cat was thus occupied, Ryan went ahead and left the pool house, making sure again to completely latch the door. He went back over to finish his dinner. He continued to watch her play with the catnip mouse between bites. Kirsten was also enjoying watch Cat play with the mouse that she bought her. So cute. Seth and Sandy exchanged amused glances about how Kirsten and Ryan were so engrossed in what the cat was doing.

Then Seth remembered that Ryan went to the vet's earlier that day, so he asked him, "So, Ryan, how'd the vet appointment go?"

Ryan gave Seth a quick summary of the visit to the vet's office, trying to not go into too much detail since Sandy and Kirsten heard all of this already. Sandy noticed that this time through, Ryan mentioned something that he didn't mention the first time.

So when Ryan was done with his recitation, Sandy asked, "The vet said that you could have your cat for 10 years or more?"

Kirsten replied for Ryan, "Yes, cats typically live into their teens, unless something happens to them like getting hit by a car or getting a disease like feline leukemia. So since Cat is only 3 years old, she'll probably be around for 10 to 15 more years."

Ryan had been thinking about this ever since the vet said that about the 10 to 15 years. He'd also been thinking that he should discuss it with Sandy and Kirsten. So he took a deep breath and figured that if he didn't do it now, he never would. "Yeah, um, I've been thinking..."

Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth could see that Ryan was trying to open up to them, so they waited patiently for him to continue.

Ryan cleared his throat and continued, "I know I'll have to make a home for Cat, for that long. But I usually don't think ahead that far, you know? 10 years into the future? I mean, I don't know where I'll be next year, after I graduate and turn 18..."

Ryan stopped, not sure if he said too much. They'd never talked about what would happen after he turned 18 and the guardian thing ended. So he wasn't sure where he stood.

Kirsten and Sandy looked at each other. They'd been meaning to have a discussion with Ryan about this. Kirsten hoped that it was understood that they would send Ryan to college after high school. Apparently it wasn't.

Seth watched Ryan look uncomfortable with what he said, and he watched his parents look at each other. He wasn't sure what they were all thinking, but as far as he was concerned, Ryan was staying here.

So since noone else was talking, Seth spoke up. "You'll be here, with us. I mean, we're your family now. Right? Mom? Dad?"

Sandy said to Seth, "Yes, of course."

He turned to Ryan, "Ryan, as far as we're concerned, you're part of this family. We hoped you felt the same way. When we took you in, we made a commitment to you. Yes, OK, legally, the guardianship ends when you turn 18. But we won't stop caring about you or stop wanting you to be part of our family then."

Kirsten added, "After you graduate high school, you'll go off to college, like Seth. And you'll come home, to us, in the summers and during school breaks. At least that's what I hope you'll want to do..."

Ryan looked around from Seth to Sandy to Kirsten as they were talking. They were saying what he hoped they would. He broke out in a big smile. He told Kirsten, "Yeah, I'd like that."

The four of them exchanged smiles all around. Seth said, "So it's settled. We're permanently a family of four."

Sandy looked over at the pool house at Ryan's cat. It was her arrival that precipitated this discussion and understanding. He was kind of softening his feelings towards her. He nodded his head towards the cat and said, "Actually, I think we're a family of five."

* * *

After dinner, Seth went to call Summer and try and make up with her. Sandy and Kirsten went to have some married couple alone-time, which was what they had planned for the evening anyway since Seth was supposed to be out with Summer and they figured Ryan would be spending time with his cat. And Ryan went into the pool house to do just that.

When he entered, Cat was lying on the rug, on her side, with the catnip mouse under one paw. She looked totally out of it. Ryan wondered if catnip made cats high. Well, either way, he figured now was probably a good time to give her the medicine. Ryan went up to the kitchen island and got out the medicine bottle and the eyedropper. He filled the eyedropper with the liquid medicine like the instructions said.

Ryan went over and picked up Cat from the floor and carried her up to the island and sat her down on the counter. He opened her mouth and put in the eyedropper as far back as he could and squeezed the medicine out. Cat of course wasn't too happy with Ryan's actions. But she did swallow, and Ryan thought she got most of it. Some ended up on the counter, his hands, and her fur. He grabbed some paper towels with one hand while still holding her with the other, and wiped off the medicine from her fur.

Then he let her go and she jumped off the counter right away. Once she got to the floor, the started to wash her face. While she was doing that, Ryan wiped off the counter and went into the kitchen and washed his hands. To make it up to her, Ryan opened the kitchen drawer that currently had in it Cat's little soccer balls with the bells in them. He took out one ball and walked back around the kitchen island to where Cat was.

Ryan shook the ball to make the bell jingle, like he did last night, and it got Cat's attention, like it did last night. Ryan rolled the ball in her direction, and she chased after it. She batted it around until it ended up behind his boots under the storage shelves where his clothes were. Cat went over there to try and dig it out. She ended up on her side, reaching in behind his boots with her paw. All she succeeded in doing at this point was pushing it further in.

But lying there next to his boots, she found something new to play with -- the boot's laces. She started batting them around and biting them. Ryan didn't want her to ruin the laces, so he went over there and moved the boots away from her. He reached in and picked up her ball, shook it again, and rolled it away from the storage area, across the front of the kitchen island. Cat got to her feet and ran after it. She caught up to it and batted it around.

This time, it went bouncing down the steps into the lower area of the pool house. Cat went running down the stairs after it. Ryan followed her down. Cat caught up to the ball and batted it around the furniture down there -- the chair, the ottoman, the table. The ball ended up resting against one of the French doors, right next to the end of the cord for the door's window shade. When Cat got over there to paw at the ball, she found it more interesting to play with the cord.

Ryan went over to her and said, "What am I going to do with you?"

He picked up the ball and the cat and carried her away from the door. He put her on the bed and gave her the catnip-filled little square of cloth to keep her occupied. She lay down on the bed and immediately went to work licking it and sucking on it. Ryan took Cat's ball and brought it back up to the kitchen and put it in the drawer with the others.

Ryan walked back down the stairs and sat in the chair at the foot of the bed and watched Cat enjoy her catnip toy. After about five minutes she was out of it again, and Ryan was finding himself almost falling asleep in the chair. He was still exhausted and his little nap before dinner didn't help. Even though it was still early, he decided to get to bed and try and catch up on his sleep.

So he pulled the shades down, changed into his night clothes, brushed his teeth, turned off the lights, and got into bed. He lay down on his right side, facing Cat. She was awakened by Ryan climbing into bed. She got up and went over to him. There was a cat-sized three-sided box made up by Ryan's bent legs, his stomach, and his bent arms. Cat fit herself into this box and curled up, lying up against his stomach and his thigh. Ryan reached down and started to pet her. She started to purr.

Cat's warmth and the vibration of her purring lulled Ryan into a peaceful sleep, secure in the knowledge that he and Cat were part of the Cohen family, for good.

* * *

**The End.**


	8. The Epilogue

Title: Ryan's Cat  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the cat. No profit taken.  
Description: Ryan finds a kindred soul.

Author's Note: Two years ago this month I posted my first chapter of my first fanfic, chapter 1 of this story. To commemorate that, I have written this epilogue.

* * *

**Epilogue **

Ryan arrived home that evening, after going to school and hanging out with Sadie, and as usual, Cat met him by the door to the pool house. Ryan broke out into a wide grin and swept Cat up into his arms and carried her into the kitchen to feed her.

Ryan and Cat had gotten into a routine lately. He usually didn't get back until near dinnertime on weekdays, what with school and hanging out with Sadie or going somewhere with Seth or going to the library, etc. But Cat was always there to meet him when he got home. She would usually spend the day curled up on his bed, or on the floor basking in the sun. Although if Kirsten was home, they would leave at least one of the french doors open, letting Cat come and go as she pleased. Ryan knew by this time that she would always come back.

When Ryan reached the kitchen, he put Cat down by the food and water bowls. He first refilled her water bowl, then picked up her food bowl, and got a can of cat food out of the cabinet. He spoke to her as he opened it up.

"Cat, I have a special treat for you today. Your favorite. Whitefish and Tuna. You know why?"

Ryan looked down at Cat. She was currently rubbing back and forth against the backs of his legs, waiting for him to put the food down. She wasn't meowing. Even after all this time, she rarely meowed, something she learned not to do during her time as a stray.

Ryan continued, "It's our anniversary." He turned back to what he was doing. "Yup. Two years ago today you showed up in the pool house."

Ryan finished scooping the food into the bowl and put some water in it, then put the bowl back down on the newspaper that he had on the floor for the cat bowls to sit on. Cat was a little bit of a messy eater. As was his routine, Ryan then sat down on the floor in the kitchen, leaned back against the cabinets, and watched Cat eat. He smiled as she wolfed down the food, with a little bit more enthusiasm than usual.

"You really like that, huh?" As Ryan spoke to her, he reached out and started to stroke her slowly along her back, careful not to disturb her eating.

Ryan had to smile to himself. Seth used to tease him mercilessly about talking to the cat, and all of Ryan's threats couldn't get him to stop. But one well-placed set of scratches from Cat did the job. The two of them still didn't get along so well, although they usually tolerated each other. Kirsten, of course, like Ryan, still loved Cat to death and doted on her like a mother with a new baby. Sandy had learned over the two years to appreciate cats, especially since Cat was so well-behaved, but he was still a dog person at heart.

As usual, after Cat was done eating, they both headed over to the bed. Cat jumped up and settled in for her post-dinner bath. Ryan grabbed his bookbag and joined her on the bed to do some homework. It was more comfortable to use the desk and chair over in the corner, but at this time of day, between Cat's dinner and his own, Ryan liked to do it on the bed so he could watch Cat do her thing, washing every part of herself with that rough tongue of hers, purring all the while.

Ryan settled in with his history homework. Shortly, though, his thoughts interrupted his school work. He put the books down and watched Cat wash her face. He couldn't believe it was two years already. In some ways, it seemed a lot shorter, in other ways it seemed like Cat had always been there with him. Ryan couldn't imagine his life without her any more.

Two years ago when Cat first showed up, Ryan had just turned sixteen and had only been with the Cohens for about eight months. He didn't even know if he'd still be here, now, after he turned eighteen. Sandy and Kirsten and Seth had tried to reassure him that nothing would change, and Ryan tried to believe them, but he couldn't quite do it. Not back then anyway.

But over the years, with all their discussions about graduating from high school and going to college, etc, Ryan had slowly come to believe. And it had proven to be true. Nothing had changed. Well, Sandy and Kirsten were no longer his legal guardians. Now they were just his family.

Ryan reached over to scratch Cat under the chin and around the ears, the way she liked it. She was still so cute, the way she raised her chin up, then ducked her head to the side.

Ryan sighed and his mind turned back to his deep thoughts. Sandy had proven himself yet again on Ryan's eighteenth birthday. He had gone to all that trouble to track down his mother and try to get her to come to his party, and she just blew him off, again, with just a note. And then there was the stark reminder about what his father was like, when he and Sadie went looking for Johnny's father. Jack Harper was the same kind of man as George Atwood. Ryan couldn't get his father out of his head for days after that. Ryan shuddered just thinking about it.

Ryan frowned. Yeah, what winner parents he had. An abusive bastard for a father and an alcoholic mess for a mother.

Cat finished her bath, stood up, and took a couple steps towards him. That was Ryan's cue to put his books away and lie down on his back so she could climb up on his stomach. So he did and she did. She settled down like she always did, with her back end on his stomach and her front end on his chest, her face just inches from his. She pulled her tail in to lie along her body, and tucked her front paws under. Ryan started stroking her back, in long, slow strokes. She blinked her eyes shut in contentment and started to purr. As usual, Ryan could feel the warmth radiating from her body into his chest and stomach. Ryan smiled. He loved this part.

Ryan took a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling. In total contrast to Dawn and George, who were never there for him, Sandy and Kirsten were always there for him. They'd proven themselves over these last two-plus years to be his real family.

Ryan looked down at Cat and scratched her around the ears. "We're real lucky, aren't we, Cat? To be part of a family like this?"

Ryan looked back up at the ceiling. Soon he was going to be leaving for college. Although as Sandy told him, going off to college didn't mean goodbye. He would still be part of the family. And Cat, too. Sandy and Kirsten said that they would keep an eye on Cat while he was off at school. Ryan looked down at Cat again. He wasn't sure he wanted to be parted from her, though.

Looking back at the ceiling, Ryan thought some more about an idea he had. Maybe if he got an apartment off-campus he could bring Cat along with him. He knew he couldn't have her in the dorms, but maybe an apartment. Well, it also depended on which college he got into and stuff. Either way, he knew that Cat would be well taken care of, and he would have her after he graduated and got his own place. Sandy and Kirsten would see to it.

Ryan smiled. Sandy and Kirsten. His family. You know, now that he was eighteen, he could legally change his name to anything he wanted.

Ryan Cohen. Yeah, he liked the sound of that.

* * *

**The End.**


End file.
